NGP is now PlayStation Vita, Starting at $249

Just moments ago during our 2011 E3 press conference we proudly unveiled an incredible 2011 software lineup and amazing new PS3 peripherals, and also shed new light on our highly anticipated handheld gaming device, officially named PlayStation Vita (PS Vita). “Vita,” which means “Life” in Latin, was chosen as the name for our next-generation portable entertainment system because it enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context.

By blurring the lines between interactive entertainment and reality, our goal was to design a device that offered a revolutionary combination of rich gaming capabilities and social connectivity, bringing users closer to each other and closer to their gaming experiences wherever they are. Connectivity was a key objective and our goal was to create experiences and content that would challenge the traditional notions of gaming. It was vital to make a device that was an extension of a user’s entertainment world, no matter where one would go.

Successively launching in the global market for $249 starting the end of this year, PS Vita incorporates a beautiful 5-inch multi-touch organic light emitting diode (OLED) as the front display and a unique multi-touch pad on the rear. Two analog sticks enable a wider range of game genres. Together with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad, PS Vita offers new gameplay, enabling entirely new experiences.

We know you’ve been closely following all of the news since we announced the product in January. With mobile connectivity playing a huge role in PS Vita’s interactive experience, we know many of you have been wondering what carrier will be helping us bring you closer to other users and closer to your gaming experiences on the go. Today, we proudly announced a partnership with AT&T, which powers the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, who will serve as the exclusive service provider for PS Vita in the United States. By having both Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi models available, PS Vita will enable infinite possibilities for you to “encounter,” “connect,” “discover,” “share” and “play” with your friends wherever they are.

Ruin for PS Vita

The excitement doesn’t stop there. We believe that 2011 will be a defining year as we usher in a new era of portable gaming. With the official North American unveiling of PlayStation Vita also comes the introduction of an extensive line-up of software for the platform. PS Vita’s launch lineup is a force to be reckoned with, featuring exciting and attractive new titles from SCE Worldwide Studios, including UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet, and Ruin (working title), which utilize PS Vita’s groundbreaking technology to make unprecedented immersive, interactive and social game play available on-the-go. In addition, titles such as Little Deviants, Hot Shots Golf, Reality Fighter, Hustle Kings, ModNation Racers, Wipeout, Super Stardust Delta and a broad range of third-party game developers and publishers make use of PS Vita’s unique feature set. We can let all of you know that the biggest and best 1st and 3rd party gaming franchises will be coming to PS Vita.

Further enhancing your entertainment experience are new PS Vita features, such as “LiveArea,” an interactive space for each PS Vita software title that allows you to access the latest game information through PlayStation Network; “near,” a pre-installed application that lets you see what other PS Vita users in the vicinity are playing; “Party,” which lets you voice chat or text chat while playing games or using the Internet browser; and “Welcome Park,” a tutorial application designed specifically to guide you through PS Vita’s new user interface. For more information, be sure to visit http://us.playstation.com/ngp/.

2011 is sure to be an epic year for us here at PlayStation. We’re always looking for ways to create compelling experiences for all of you and we’re very excited to bring you unparalleled gaming experiences with PS Vita. Let us know your thoughts and looking forward to having you try out PS Vita for yourselves!

For the amount of tech, the $250 model is way cheaper than I expected.

But for the $300 model, I am very disappointed for 2 reason.
Reason 1) Why are you guys using 3G instead of 4G? I have a feeling that there will be a 4G model in a year from now. People should just wait for when that is release
Reason 2) AT&T? Really? The nation lease favorite 3G provider with the worst mobile network in the United States.

i LOVE this device, from the feautures to the games, but i dont like one thing….the name. Come on sony, if you are going to make a Portable Gaming platform please make it a successor to the PSP, not something completely different. Change the name to the PSP2, please.

Very good price but the only game that really caught my eye was Ruin. The rest are games that I’ve already played to death on my PS3 or lame looking puzzle and casual games. Vita really needs a fresh Monster Hunter and more deep games like Ruin.

Dear Santa,
Iv’e been sincerely Good for the whole year,
except that time w/ Mindi if you know what I mean?
anyways pretty please give me the new Sony Playstation Vita.
PRETTY PLEASE!!! OXOX
,Love Tommy (that’s not my real name tho)

Love PS Vita and tell Jack he did great job as boss on the floor and all of you too sony guys and others. :) PS Vita blow my mind 249$ and 299$ that great price and i am hoping to preorder one soon if i see on the game-stop or any store never by. Thanks fro working with at&t it works for me sense i have at&t, hope to work for you Sony one day. Peace Out Sony :)

It looks awesome! Great line up of games, and nice features. The price is cheaper than I thought it would be, too. I’m really looking forward to LBP, ModNation, Wipeout and all the other awesome games!

I’m definitely getting the Wi-Fi version. Why Sony would partner with AT&T is just mind boggling! AT&T is just a truly awful company, I feel sorry for anyone who does business with them.

It looks great ill give it that. the price might be a bit for me, but hey i bought a 3ds for the exact same price so ill probably get it no doubt.

The problem is will it suffer like the psp did? as a big psp fan i am great disappointed with how Sony has treated it. especially coming from someone who bought a Go and got little to no enjoyment out of it since you guys refused to put games out on the Psn (and continuing to not putting them up for that matter)

It makes me questions if you guys learned anything and will actually support this device since you didnt (at least with what i am seeing) support the psp well enough what makes us think you’ll actually do something this time around?

Ill give you the benefit of the doubt, but this will probably be the last time. Hopefully though since this can play psp games we see games like Crisis Core come up soon on the psn.